The National Security Administration campus in Fort Meade, Md., is shown in June 2013. Democrats and Republicans in Congress cooperated with each other to advance a surveillance bill. Patrick SemanskyAP

The National Security Administration campus in Fort Meade, Md., is shown in June 2013. Democrats and Republicans in Congress cooperated with each other to advance a surveillance bill. Patrick SemanskyAP

If these were the old days of newspapering, we’d love to shout: “Stop the Presses!” That’s a phrase normally reserved for late-breaking, jaw-dropping news.

What shocking event has inspired our outburst in the digital age? Only that Congressional Democrats and Republicans have worked together to advance a vital surveillance bill that helps keep America safe.

Under the program, U.S. authorities work with telecom companies to secretly gather phone and electronic communications of foreigners outside the United States. In doing so, some emails, phone calls and texts of American citizens may also be incidentally swept into the net.

That possibility upsets privacy hawks in both parties, who sought tough new limits on American surveillance. But more moderate lawmakers on both sides stiff-armed opponents because they feared, rightly, that weakening the program would hobble terror investigations.

Never miss a local story.

Sign up today for unlimited digital access to our website, apps, the digital newspaper and more.

House lawmakers did so even after President Donald Trump issued a series of contradictory and monumentally uninformed tweets about the program that could have jeopardized passage of the bill.

In one tweet, Trump appeared to question his own administration’s support for the program. He finally made himself clear: “… today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land. We need it! Get smart!”

They did.

On Tuesday, the Senate overcame the threat of a filibuster, 60-38. That’s 18 Democrats, 41 Republicans and 1 independent. Fittingly, a bipartisan duo – Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisana and Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri – provided the final votes to proceed.

And on Thursday, the Senate approved the six-year extension. The vote was 65-34. The bill now heads to the White House for Trump's signature, and he has indicated he will sign it.

The bill allows the FBI to keep scanning the database of intelligence collected on foreign targets, using search terms, for information on Americans.

But it would require a warrant to view the actual content in cases unrelated to national security. Exceptions would apply, such as for murder and kidnapping cases. It also would require a warrant only in criminal investigations that are in their final stages.

Americans seeking signs that lawmakers from both parties can cooperate to advance America’s national security interests now have one strong piece of evidence. For some members of Congress, particularly Democrats buffeted by the left wing of their party, this was a gutsy vote.

Washington isn’t known for getting things done. The atmosphere is “toxic,” U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago tells us.

But Section 702 transcended political turf fights because it “is a vital tool for our intel community,” says Quigley, a Democrat on the House intelligence committee. “I can list specific examples of people and threats that were thwarted by 702.”

One case previously highlighted: Intelligence collected under Section 702 helped prevent al-Qaida’s Najibullah Zazi from launching a suicide bombing on a New York City subway.

Republican Sen. John Warner of Virginia also reminded lawmakers before the Tuesday vote that U.S. intelligence has used the surveillance law to track down terrorists abroad. Case in point: the 2016 killing of Islamic State’s second-ranking leader, Abdul-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Haji Imam, in a U.S.-backed military raid in Syria.

Those are just the successes we’ve heard about. We don’t know what other violent plots have been thwarted but remain secret.

Six years from now, the law comes up for renewal. We wish it a stellar record of success – and continued bipartisan support.